In addition to riders, individuals, families and groups are being encouraged to volunteer for the more than 3,000 support positions in Houston, Austin and along the route.

Multiple sclerosis, an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system, interrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body. Symptoms range from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis.

Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, with at least two to three times more women as men being diagnosed with the disease. MS affects more than 400,000 people in the U.S. and 2.1 million worldwide.